University seeking to lease building for Shared Services Center

By Tim GeorgeFinance Communications

The university will move forward to negotiate a lease on a building to house its new Shared Services Center, following approval July 18 by the Board of Regents.

Shared Services will shift certain Finance and Human Resources transaction-processing activities from colleges, schools and units across the university into one operation that will serve the entire institution.

The building under consideration for lease is located at 1000 Victors Way. The university is evaluating a seven-year lease for the facility, which is approximately 53,000 square feet and can accommodate up to 300 employees.

“Receiving approval from the Board of Regents to negotiate a lease on this facility is another important step in our ongoing process to successfully launch Shared Services at the university,” says Rowan Miranda, associate vice president for finance. “And while this building meets our needs in terms of square footage, proximity to campus and other considerations, we’ve not yet finalized a lease and still have much work to do on that front.”

Miranda did note that many of the university employees who participated in focus groups last spring about the Shared Services facility expressed a strong desire to see it located in an easily accessible location near campus. The proposed location is just south of Wolverine Tower.

Miranda; Alfred Franzblau, vice provost for academic and budgetary affairs; and Laurita Thomas, associate vice president for human resources, are serving as project co-chairs for the university’s Administrative Services Transformation program, which includes Shared Services. The Shared Services initiative is expected to generate up to $17 million in annual savings.